Two decades of discussion on charitable food aid in Finland : analysing the framing by and through the media

Jo kaksi vuosikymmentä virallisen sosiaalipolitiikan rajapinnoilla toiminut ruoka-apu on murrosvaiheessa: Tulisiko toiminta hiljaisen hyväksynnän sijaan tunnustaa, jolloin avun kohdentamista ja järjestämistä voidaan avoimesti kehittää yhdessä kirkon, kunnallisen sosiaalitoimen ja yksityisen sektorin kesken? Onko toiminnan fokus siirtymässä väliaikaiseksi tarkoitetusta akuutin nälän torjunnasta kohti sosiaalipoliittisen ruoka- köyhyyden ja ekologisen ruokahävikin ongelmat yhdistävää ratkaisumallia? Julkisen, yksityisen ja kolmannen sektorin yhteistyönä toteutettavan saksalaisen ruoka-apumallin (Berliner Tafel -ruokapankkiverkosto) rantautuminen Suomeen (Yhteinen Pöytä …

New frames for food charity in Finland

This chapter forms the land case study for Finland. As with all empirical chapters it explores several key themes in relation to food charity in Finland: • the history of food charity in the national context and the relationship between the welfare state and charities; • the nature of and drivers behind contemporary food charity provision; • key changes in social policy and their impact on rising charitable food provision; • and the social justice implications of increasing need for charitable assistance with food. The chapter concludes with critical reflections on the future direction of food charity provision in Finland and the implications of this.

Manoeuvring between regulations to achieve locally accepted results : analysis of school meals in Latvia and Finland

Rather than having a consistent food policy, countries often tend to regulate food from the margins of other policy domains such as agricultural, environmental, welfare or educational policies. Regulatory interventions perceive food as an instrument rather than a domain with its own specific set of policy issues and view food provision as an activity to achieve certain economic, social and environmental objectives. This fragments the food policy into disintegrated points of interventions from various policy areas and leaves unregulated voids that can be exploited either to improve or to reduce the effectiveness of the interventions. This article explores interlinkages between fragmented pol…

Reilua ruokaa tänään ja huomenna : suosituksia kestävän ruokajärjestelmän luomiseksi

Charitable food aid in Finland: from a social issue to an environmental solution

Since the establishment of the first food bank in 1995, charitable food aid (CFA) has become entrenched in Finland as a seemingly irreplaceable solution to food poverty. Further, it has recently been suggested that the focus of food aid activities is shifting from food poverty and temporary hunger alleviation towards environmental sustainability through addressing food waste via organized re-distribution of expiring food from retail to charitable organizations. This potentially creates a mechanism that (1) solidifies food poverty and (2) fortifies the paradoxical situation where charitable organizations delivering food aid are dependent on food waste rather than trying to reduce it. To unde…